| sam@hearth-warden.com |
|---|
Thornhaven is a federated multiplayer AI system where each household runs its own AI assistant locally, while a lightweight shared server coordinates a persistent game world with 227+ AI characters.
- Federated AI processing — Each household's Claude instance processes its own Familiars' actions. The server coordinates but doesn't run the heavy AI workload. This distributes token costs across users and keeps personal data local.
- Two-backend design — The mobile app talks to both the shared game server (for multiplayer) and the household's local agent (for personal assistant features). Data sovereignty is architectural, not policy.
- Real-time physical simulation — Characters have measured travel speeds, locations have real distances, and a path graph with Dijkstra routing prevents teleportation. Movement modes (walk, fly, burrow, climb) create strategic gameplay.
- Progressive information disclosure — Character profiles fill in through interaction, not bulk data dump. Trust scores gate deeper information. This creates organic relationship-building.
- Engagement-powered progression — Real-world assistant usage (budget tracking, meal planning, health logging) directly increases AI Familiar power in the game world. This creates a self-reinforcing engagement loop.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Mobile app | React Native + Expo (iOS + Android from one codebase) |
| Server | FastAPI (Python) + PostgreSQL |
| Real-time | WebSocket for live events |
| AI | Claude API (Anthropic) — Haiku for safety, Sonnet for NPCs, Opus for complex reasoning |
| Auth | JWT with role-based claims (owner/adult/teen/child) |
| Deployment | Docker + Caddy (TLS) |
| Metric | Current |
|---|---|
| Database tables | 22 |
| REST endpoints | 30+ |
| Server source files | 22 (4,341 lines Python) |
| Client source files | 19 (React Native TypeScript) |
| Design documents | 9 |
| NPC characters seeded | 6 key + 221 planned |
| Town locations | 22 with measured distances |
| Story arcs | 3 (Season 1) |
| Tier | Revenue | Server Cost | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosted ($50) | $50 | $15-30 | 40-70% |
| Connected ($35) | $35 | $1-2 | 94-97% |
| Self-Hosted ($30) | $30 | $0.50 | 98% |
The federated model means margin improves as more users choose the Connected tier, because their own Claude handles the processing.
The following are not disclosed in this overview:
- Pulse directive/response JSON schemas
- NPC personality generation algorithms
- Story arc trigger conditions and branching logic
- Content safety detection patterns
- Memory isolation implementation details
- Power progression calculation formulas
For full technical access, contact sam@hearth-warden.com.
- Child accounts (under 13) require verifiable parental consent
- Four-role system (owner/adult/teen/child) with content filtering per tier
- Three-layer content safety: client-side regex, server-side rules, AI classification
- Predatory behavior pattern detection
- All child interactions logged and parent-reviewable
- No email collection from children
- No in-app purchases (payment via website only)
Warden Systems LLC — Clark County, WA
sam@hearth-warden.com — hearth-warden.com